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Gestalt Principles
Perception is influenced by our knowledge of regularities in the environment. Because of this, a whole object is more than the combination of its parts. This view of perceptual organization is known as Gestalt psychology. There are various principles commonly associated with gestalt theory: figure/ground, proximity, similarity, continuation, & closure. These principles allow people to see the world in a (generally) correct way.
Figure
Ground
Figure-Ground refers to the relationship between an object and its surroundings. Most of the time, it’s easy to pick out the Figure, which is the object (the positive space) from the Ground, which is everything else (the negative space).
However, certain illusions may make perception of future ground difficult. This is called figure ground ambiguity.
Proximity Principle
The law of proximity is especially useful because it deals with how our eyes and brains draw connections with design images.
Elements that are close to each other are perceived to be related when compared with elements that are separate from each other.
The law of proximity allows us to use whitespace.
Similarity Principle
When forms, colors, sizes or objects look enough alike people perceive the elements as a group or pattern. Humans are prone to identify matching shapes and colors and will quickly try to identify their meaning. A variety of these elements will keep a viewers attention.
Continuance Principle
The law of continuation is the concept that, the viewer has an instinctive tendency to follow a path. Human eyes follows lines, curves, or shapes in order to determine a relationship. The continuation can carry through both positive and negative spaces.
Cl sure Principle
Closure principle refers to humans innate ability to fill in the . The brain has the ability to complete an unfinished form or subject and fill in the missing pieces. If enough of the shape is indicated, the viewer will perceive the whole
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